Fountain Hills teen Serena Noss earned a Gold Award from the Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council (GSACPC), the highest and most prestigious award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

The Gold Award is comparable to the Boy Scouts of America’s Eagle Scout merit. Girls who pursue their Gold Award aspire to transform an idea and vision for change into an actionable plan with measurable, sustainable and far-reaching results.

All 33 Gold Award recipients from central and northern Arizona, including Noss, were honored at the Girl Scout High Award Ceremony on Saturday, March 25, at The Bob & Renee Parsons Leadership Center for Girls and Women at Camp South Mountain.

“I am honored to congratulate these outstanding girls,” said Tamara Woodbury, CEO of GSACPC. “By earning the Gold Award, Girl Scouts set themselves apart as top achievers, and are incredible women of confidence, courage and character, who make the world a better place.”

To earn the Gold Award, girls spend over 80 hours working on a project that addresses a community problem and is important to each girl. Overall, the process usually takes 18 to 24 months and often involves seeking in-kind donations and recruiting volunteers.

For most of these girls, this award is the culmination of more than 10 years in the Girl Scouts. Gold Awardees distinguish themselves in the college admission process, earn college scholarships and enter the military one rank higher. Nationally, only about a million Girl Scouts in grades 9-12 have earned the Gold Award or its equivalent since 1916.

For her Gold Award project, Noss worked with the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy in Scottsdale to help alleviate the fear of snakes by providing information to keep people safe and to encourage a greater appreciation for the reptiles. At the conservancy, Noss organized an informational event about snakes and created a brochure on the 17 species that live in the preserve.